Pinellas County added 16,939 new businesses in the first nine months of 2026, a 7.8% jump over the same period in 2025.

That growth rate outpaced the state as a whole. Florida registered a record 474,039 new businesses from January through September, up 5.8% from a year earlier, according to a report from FiledToday.com, a Punta Gorda firm that tracks filings with the Florida Division of Corporations. The Business Observer first reported the findings Nov. 5.

Pinellas was one of 43 of Florida's 67 counties to hit a record high for the nine-month period. The county ranked eighth statewide by filing volume.

Palm Harbor was among the top filing cities in the county. St. Petersburg led with 954 new filings in an eight-week window ending Oct. 30, followed by Clearwater with 491 and Largo with 247, according to FiledToday.com's Pinellas County tracker.

What's opening

Real estate topped the list of identifiable business categories in Pinellas County over the most recent eight weeks, followed by professional services, construction and trades, and health and medical. Technology also ranked in the top six. About 89% of new Pinellas filings were Florida LLCs.

Professional services stood out locally. FiledToday.com noted that category appeared at 1.3 times its share statewide.

Statewide, businesses with "AI" in their names surged. Filings rose from 558 in the first nine months of 2025 to 874 in the same period of 2026, a 56.6% increase, according to the report. Companies with "peptide" in their names climbed from 41 to 178 over the same stretch. Those figures are statewide; the report did not break them down by county.

Not all survive

A filing does not guarantee a lasting business. Of the Florida-based companies formed in 2023, 47% remain active, according to the report. Of those formed in 2025, about 65% are still active.

The statewide surge also showed signs of cooling. March filings ran 16.4% ahead of a year earlier, but by September the pace had dropped 5.3% below the prior year, according to FiledToday.com.

Nearby counties

Neighboring Hillsborough County filed 31,241 new businesses through September, up 4.3%. Pasco County grew faster at 10.7%, reaching 10,192 filings. The statewide record topped the previous high set during the 2021 pandemic-era boom, when 463,978 businesses registered in the same nine-month window.

The Dunedin Chamber of Commerce hosts free Entrepreneur Round Table sessions on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 301 Main St. in Dunedin, where new and established business owners can share challenges and advice.